"Making a system that can purify negative energy and convert it into positive energy isn't difficult. I'll whip one up for you."
Herta wasn't an ordinary person. For a simple negative energy conversion system, she immediately had a plan, and her execution was astonishing. In front of Lu Jingming, Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, and Raiden Makoto, she effortlessly took out the Void Archives.
With her Authority of Reality activated, a golden light gathered, and a magnificent golden Holy Grail slowly floated in the air, spinning gently and exuding a mysterious aura.
The corner of Lu Jingming's eye twitched. He sighed inwardly, thinking that a true genius was simply beyond reason. He had just stated his need, and Herta had already delivered. It seemed that equipping Herta with the Void Archives was the right decision from the start.
Looking at the Holy Grail, the materials used to construct it were definitely extraordinary. Without the Void Archives, he would have likely had to use his own Authority of Reality.
With a gentle wave of Herta's hand, the golden Holy Grail flew spinning into Lu Jingming's grasp. The moment he held it, the Holy Grail's functions automatically appeared in his mind.
Using the Holy Grail as a medium, his memories as a realm record, he would sign a contract with the Planetary Will, select a person blessed with great destiny as a Master, and then summon Memory Entities formed from negative energy.
The winner of this Holy Grail War, which would take the entire Douluo Continent as its stage, would directly receive the God of the Seas divinity and its corresponding Stigmata. It was a one-way ticket to godhood, with no Divine Trial required. After all, this was equivalent to creating a divine position from scratch, so no extra test was needed. Or rather, the Holy Grail War itself was a special Divine Trial, and only the one who laughed last would reap the rewards.
During the Holy Grail War, the defeated Memory Entities would be absorbed by the Holy Grail, which would activate its purification system, converting negative energy into positive energy and feeding it back to the contracted Douluo Star, helping it grow stronger.
As Douluo Star grew stronger, Lu Jingming would also receive feedback from the planet, allowing him to forge his own divine position. At the same time, the Holy Grail, having absorbed a vast amount of energy during the process, could also be used to create a brand new divine position.
As for the specific divinity, with the participation of the Planetary Will, the Authority of the Ocean could naturally be condensed, thus creating the God of the Seas' position.
It could be said that Lu Jingming had planned everything out for Tang San, who was still completely unaware that he had already fallen into Lu Jingming's trap.
Lu Jingming spent a while studying the Holy Grail, then discussed it in detail with Greater Lord Rukkhadevata and Raiden Makoto, making a series of additions and modifications to its functions. The final product left Lu Jingming extremely satisfied.
The completed Holy Grail was an outstanding artifact. As long as it absorbed enough energy, it could grant wishes—within certain limits, of course. But since it could even create a divine position, the Holy Grail would surely become a rare treasure coveted by countless people.
If it could create one divine position, it could theoretically create a second one. Given enough time, the Douluo Continent would have a treasure capable of continuously creating new divine positions. As long as time was abundant, it wouldn't be impossible for the number of gods to exceed that of the Divine Realm.
Of course, all of this was predicated on whether Douluo Star could handle so many gods. After all, the Divine Realm's capacity for divine positions was limited, and Douluo Star also had its limits. However, compared to the Divine Realm, Douluo Star had an advantage: it didn't need to carry the divine positions themselves, only the gods, since the divine positions existed in the Stigmata space and did not burden Douluo Star.
"Perfect. Everything is ready now. All that's left is for the wind to blow. Herta, let our Star of Pestilence get to work. Buy us enough time." Lu Jingming was slightly excited as he toyed with the Holy Grail.
The thought of the upcoming Holy Grail War filled him with anticipation. It felt like that heart-pounding moment when you're about to pull the rarest card in a mobile game. He was very curious to see how many people would be lucky, how many would be blessed with incredible luck, and how many would just be unlucky.
After all, this was a gacha banner based on his memories. Even he didn't know how many "cards" were in the pool. And these "cards" would surely have varying levels of power. The strong ones might rival gods, while the weak ones might not even be able to defeat their own Master. It would all be decided by luck, and Lu Jingming had no intention of rigging the system, as that would ruin all the fun.
"Go ahead and prepare your Holy Grail War. I'll help you handle things on the Divine Realm's side." Herta's tone was casual, as if causing a stir in the Divine Realm was nothing but a simple task for her, which was, in fact, the truth.
"I'll leave it to you, then." Lu Jingming had complete faith in Herta. This beautiful and brilliant genius was incredibly reliable.
While Ruan Mei's divinity was tempered with a bit of humanity, Herta was the opposite: her humanity was tinged with a bit of divinity. Though Herta was also passionate about her research, she was soft-hearted beneath her tough exterior. For example, she would abandon her long-prepared experiment of meeting an Aeon if it meant saving the lives of Welt and Sunday.
Herta had also saved her hometown on several occasions. She was undoubtedly a savior, and her character was impeccable, which was why Lu Jingming had chosen to summon her in the first place.
In contrast, both Mobius and Ruan Mei were much more dangerous. Furthermore, Lu Jingming's power at the time was still weak, so he might not have been able to fully control Ruan Mei or Mobius. With Herta, he didn't have to worry too much.
And it was proven true. Even though Herta's intelligence was far ahead of her time and she was curious about everything, she hadn't caused any trouble or major chaos for Lu Jingming.
If it had been Ruan Mei, the soul beasts on the Douluo Continent might have been transformed into all sorts of bizarre creatures.
Although Lu Jingming also liked Ruan Mei and had even called himself her dog in the game when she said "My dear," that was just a game. In reality, summoning Ruan Mei would not have been a wise move. Given his abilities at the time, he couldn't have handled this genius whose divinity outweighed her humanity. The slightest mistake could have led to a major, unexpected disaster.
He didn't want to wake up one day and find that a group of strange creations had suddenly appeared on the Douluo Continent, causing the situation to spiral completely out of his control.
After arranging the matters of the Divine Realm, Lu Jingming, along with Greater Lord Rukkhadevata and Raiden Makoto, began to plant the World Tree on the planet and sign a contract with the Planetary Will, using its absorbed memories to form the planet's lifeblood.
After Lu Jingming left, Herta glanced at a corner and said calmly, "He's gone. You can come out now."
"As expected of Lady Herta. I knew I couldn't hide from you!"
Mobius's figure slowly emerged from the void. Her snake-like eyes narrowed slightly, revealing a hint of caution toward Herta.
As a fellow genius, Mobius had to admit that Herta's talent was superior to hers. Neither she nor Vill-V or Mei could compare to Herta. After all, Herta had saved her hometown from world-ending crises multiple times, while she and Mei had been unable to save the previous civilization from the Honkai trial.
While there were many reasons for this, including environmental factors, their achievements were indeed inferior to Herta's. If the Finality Cocoon hadn't sealed off the solar system, with their talent, Mobius and Mei might have truly embarked on the Path of Elucidation and even been acknowledged by the Aeon of Elucidation, Nous, becoming an Emanator of Elucidation.
But that was only a possibility, whereas Herta was a genuine Emanator of Elucidation and had been acknowledged by Nous more than once. Therefore, in the years they had been companions, Mobius knew that Herta was unfathomably deep, and the sheer volume of Herta's knowledge far surpassed her own, benefiting her greatly. After all, Herta's knowledge came from the entire universe, while hers was limited to the secluded planet of Earth.
"I want to add fuel to the fire in the Divine Realm. After all, with just one Star of Pestilence, the Divine Realm isn't completely without the power to suppress it. It probably won't delay them for long."
Mobius got straight to the point, and a black gem appeared in her hand. The moment the gem appeared, the surrounding space slightly distorted, and gravity became unstable.
"You really aren't afraid of making things worse. You've set your sights on that foolish dragon, haven't you?"
Herta instantly understood Mobius's intention. She was targeting the Gold Dragon King. It was true that the Gold Dragon King and the Silver Dragon King were originally a single being, the Dragon God, who was a top-tier God-King in this universe. It was only natural for Mobius to want to study the avatar of such a powerful being.
But the Silver Dragon King on the Douluo Continent was now close to Lu Jingming and might even bring her dowry and marry him one day. Mobius had her reservations about targeting the Silver Dragon King, but the Gold Dragon King was not within her concerns, nor would Lu Jingming care.
"Give it to me. It's a good opportunity to witness the top-tier power of this world." Herta was also intrigued. The Gold Dragon King was already a top God-King, and if it were to merge with the core of the Herrscher of the Rock, there was no telling how powerful it would become.
"I knew you wouldn't refuse."
Mobius smiled. Herta was also a researcher. Although their philosophies differed, when faced with an interesting experiment, as long as it didn't cross her bottom line, Herta usually wouldn't refuse.
Lu Jingming was completely unaware of the collaboration between Herta and Mobius to cause trouble, but even if he knew, he probably wouldn't care.
With the practical experience from the parallel world, Lu Jingming easily entered the planet's origin space and saw the giant sphere of light, which was the Planetary Will. Compared to the Planetary Will of the parallel world, the one ten thousand years later was much more powerful and lively. Although it had yet to develop sentience, that day was not far off.
However, if Lu Jingming hadn't appeared, this Planetary Will would have likely been devoured by Tang Hao, who would have taken its place. After all, the person it had chosen, its Child of Destiny, was a weak-willed traitor who had stolen most of its luck, leaving it powerless to resist being consumed by Tang Hao, a mere divine officer who didn't even have a divine position.